To expand on the theme "greed is the root of all evil," the Pardoner preaches a fable about three drunk young degenerates who set out to kill Death and end up meeting their own demise as a result of—you guessed it—greed.
But the Tale doesn't paint death as completely evil. In the character of the Old Man who longs for death to put an end to his suffering, it reminds us that death is sometimes even desirable. In Christian theology, death was the gateway to eternal and joyous life, much preferred to the present short and miserable one. The rioters' pact to kill Death, then, begins to appear pretty ridiculous, one more misguided impulse from this gang of geniuses.
In the end the three fail in their pact to kill Death, who remains just as he was at the beginning of the story: a "privy theef" who strikes unexpectedly and indiscriminately, and for whom the good Christian would do well to be prepared. In fact, all the discussion of death in the Pardoner's Tale probably comes from an ulterior motive: by exploiting people's fear of being unprepared for their death with a sinful soul, the Pardoner can up his profits substantially.
Questions About Mortality
- What does death look like in the Pardoner's Tale? What causes death?
- Why does the Old Man in the Tale long for death?
- Does the Pardoner's Tale portray death as evil? If so, how? If not, why not?
- How does the Pardoner exploit the fear of death to sell pardons?
Chew on This
The pilgrims don't fear dying so much as dying in a state of unpardoned sin. The Pardoner takes advantage of this.
In this story, Death's main quality is being unexpected.